Opinion
Letters

Letter to the editor

We all have a vested interest in clean, efficient transportation but a $100 million tunnel under the tracks at Richmond Street for just 30 buses per hour is too costly; you are not only gambling with tax dollars and risk to a vibrant area, you are gambling with people's livelihoods on Richmond Row. After three years of construction, noise, filth, property damage, and congestion, landlords will have empty buildings and businesses will sprawl to malls.

Shift engineers and planners have a financial interest in pushing for a BRT tunnel but they can't provide any details to counter professionals who warn against this poorly designed project.

BRT stations will speed riders underground, by-passing Richmond Row because there are no tunnel stops between the Victoria Park Bandshell and Oxford Street. A two-minute walk to the bus stop by the Ceeps will now be 10 minutes with a possible stop for a train before catching the "fast" bus to campus. Thus, a BRT ride at 90 km/h will not save time.

Three years of tunnel construction will displace 20,000 cars. After construction, neighbourhoods and public schools on Waterloo Street will suffer for a BRT system that Western doesn't want to invest in or maintain. Even with this additional cost to taxpayers and a 20 per cent longer tunnel the 2015 price of this project remains locked at the original $560 million.

Completion of the Adelaide underpass is required before any construction can proceed. Then let Shift consider the Wharncliffe/Western route preferred by the university and downtown businesses.